A Thanksgiving Pilgrimage for Migrants' Justice

A Thanksgiving Pilgrimage for Migrants' Justice

Article excerpt

On Canadian Thanksgiving Day in October, a group of migrant workers walked for 12 hours to raise awareness about the realities facing migrant labourers in Canada. A hundred people, including farmers, factory workers and packagers, participated in a 50-kilometre 'pilgrimage' across Ontario, from Leamington to Windsor. The workers' stops included the Canadian Border Agency, where the participants hung messages on the door handles of the offices, and the Underground Railroad Memorial in Windsor.

'We wanted to send out the message that workers don't have a Thanksgiving like everybody else, yet they grow and package our food and process it,' explained one of the organizers, Tzazna Leal Miranda of Justicia For Migrant Workers. Most of the marchers were women, and the march highlighted the sexism and racism that they face. The workers also wanted to point out that agents and recruiters charge exorbitant fees - in the thousands of dollars - to get them into Canada, and yet once there, they are in a risky situation because of their lack of legal status. …